Big Ten coaches said they saw it coming. But few others could have predicted the way the conference season has played out.

Northwestern in fourth place? Short-handed Michigan tied with even more short-handed Michigan State for first?

Ohio State and Wisconsin, preseason conference picks at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, have dropped to fifth and sixth place in the league after being undefeated and ranked in the top four nationally just a month ago.

Besides last-place Illinois, the rest of the conference is separated by only five games. Four teams (Ohio State, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana) are within four games of first place, while Nebraska is just another game back.

Iowa sits just two games out of first place.

But Big Ten coaches say they knew it was possible.

“If you would listen to what I’ve been saying from the beginning, it’s exactly what I expected,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “There’s no league that’s as good, top to bottom, as our league.”

Or as Northwestern coach Chris Collins put it, “There are no bad teams.”

Why so competitive? Does this mean it’s a good season for the Big Ten or a bad season?

Recent nose-dives by Ohio State, which lost five of seven, and Wisconsin, which dropped five of six, certainly have opened things up.

Injuries to Michigan State’s Adreian Payne, who is considered iffy for Thursday’s game against Penn State, and Branden Dawson made the Spartans susceptible. Michigan has overachieved without Mitch McGary thanks to the surprising emergence of Nik Stauskas, who, except for a bad game Sunday at Indiana, has been lights out.

Iowa’s experience and depth have helped the Hawkeyes reach their potential.

Eleven of the 12 Big Ten teams have at least one victory against a top-25 program. An RPI that shows five teams ranked in the top 30 suggests this is a good thing.

“With the way guys coached their teams last year,” Illinois coach John Groce said, “the bottom-half teams were all going to be better based on who they had sitting out, based on the experience guys had last year, based on recruiting. It’s played itself out that way. There’s a lot of parity 1-12.”

All Groce really had to say was, “See?”

“Before the season even started, (I saw) the depth of the league one through 12 would make it as good or better than it was last year,” he said. “It’s easy for me to say I told you so, but I told you so.”

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